Meat factory sees management buy-out for the second time
Tuesday, 18th December 2012.
A management buy-out has saved the 330 jobs at the meat factory at Little Wratting.
Dutch-based food producer Vion NV has reached an agreement for a management buy-out of its UK pork operations, securing around 4,000 jobs, subject to Competition Authority approval in Ireland.
The deal, led by Seamus Carr, managing director of Vion’s Pork Business Unit, is backed by UK private equity firm Endless, which has a strong track record of investing in companies in the UK across a wide range of sectors.
The announcement followed the strategic decision Vion announced on November 19 that it was selling its UK food operations, employing in total 13,000 people at 38 sites, to focus on its core food activities in the Netherlands and Germany and its global ingredients business.
Discussions are ongoing with a number of prospective purchasers for Vion’s other UK business units for poultry and red meat.
Vion’s UK pork facilities are located all over the UK, but include the Little Wratting factory, taken over in 2008 when they bought the business from Grampian Foods.
This is the second time the factory has been involved in a management buy-out.
In the 1993 the former Haverhill Meat Products, originally set up as a joint venture between Sainsbury's and Canada Packers, was bought from Sainsbury's, by then sole owners, by its management team and re-christened Newmarket Foods. Grampian bought that up in 1998.
For more than 30 years the site was Haverhill's largest employer, with over 2,000 workers there at one stage.
Now the staffing, according to Vion's website, stands at 330.
Mr Carr, who will be managing director of the new company said: “VION’s decision to sell its UK business naturally caused a degree of uncertainty amongst staff, suppliers and customers.
“Therefore, I’m very pleased that we have quickly been able to agree a deal for the pork business which secures the future for our staff, our suppliers and gives our customers a seamless transition.
"Our ambitions for the new business are firstly to maintain the excellent levels of service and product quality which have helped us secure orders from all the major supermarkets and then to build upon the opportunities in the marketplace to grow the business.”
Peter Barr, chairman of VION UK, warmly welcomed the management buy-out. He said: “When we announced our intention to sell, we highlighted the viability of the UK businesses and the strong interest from prospective purchasers.
"The swiftness with which we’ve been able to agree a deal with the management team of the pork business unit, which knows the company inside-out, underlines our confidence in the sales process.
"I am sure the response from everyone involved, from our farmers and suppliers, to our employees and customers, will be extremely positive."
Endless is a specialist investor in UK headquartered businesses, widely known for acquiring non-core businesses from large groups.
A spokesman from Endless said: “We are delighted to have been selected by the MBO team to support their plans and aspirations for such a strategically important business in the UK food sector, with its focus on local produce at a time when end customers demands for British sourced food are increasing.”
VION NV entered the UK in the late 1990s with the acquisition of Key Country Foods, followed by Tranfield and subsequently Grampian Country Food Group in 2008, supplying beef, lamb, pork and chicken products to a broad range of blue-chip customers across the food retailing, food manufacturing and food service sectors.
Dutch-based food producer Vion NV has reached an agreement for a management buy-out of its UK pork operations, securing around 4,000 jobs, subject to Competition Authority approval in Ireland.
The deal, led by Seamus Carr, managing director of Vion’s Pork Business Unit, is backed by UK private equity firm Endless, which has a strong track record of investing in companies in the UK across a wide range of sectors.
The announcement followed the strategic decision Vion announced on November 19 that it was selling its UK food operations, employing in total 13,000 people at 38 sites, to focus on its core food activities in the Netherlands and Germany and its global ingredients business.
Discussions are ongoing with a number of prospective purchasers for Vion’s other UK business units for poultry and red meat.
Vion’s UK pork facilities are located all over the UK, but include the Little Wratting factory, taken over in 2008 when they bought the business from Grampian Foods.
This is the second time the factory has been involved in a management buy-out.
In the 1993 the former Haverhill Meat Products, originally set up as a joint venture between Sainsbury's and Canada Packers, was bought from Sainsbury's, by then sole owners, by its management team and re-christened Newmarket Foods. Grampian bought that up in 1998.
For more than 30 years the site was Haverhill's largest employer, with over 2,000 workers there at one stage.
Now the staffing, according to Vion's website, stands at 330.
Mr Carr, who will be managing director of the new company said: “VION’s decision to sell its UK business naturally caused a degree of uncertainty amongst staff, suppliers and customers.
“Therefore, I’m very pleased that we have quickly been able to agree a deal for the pork business which secures the future for our staff, our suppliers and gives our customers a seamless transition.
"Our ambitions for the new business are firstly to maintain the excellent levels of service and product quality which have helped us secure orders from all the major supermarkets and then to build upon the opportunities in the marketplace to grow the business.”
Peter Barr, chairman of VION UK, warmly welcomed the management buy-out. He said: “When we announced our intention to sell, we highlighted the viability of the UK businesses and the strong interest from prospective purchasers.
"The swiftness with which we’ve been able to agree a deal with the management team of the pork business unit, which knows the company inside-out, underlines our confidence in the sales process.
"I am sure the response from everyone involved, from our farmers and suppliers, to our employees and customers, will be extremely positive."
Endless is a specialist investor in UK headquartered businesses, widely known for acquiring non-core businesses from large groups.
A spokesman from Endless said: “We are delighted to have been selected by the MBO team to support their plans and aspirations for such a strategically important business in the UK food sector, with its focus on local produce at a time when end customers demands for British sourced food are increasing.”
VION NV entered the UK in the late 1990s with the acquisition of Key Country Foods, followed by Tranfield and subsequently Grampian Country Food Group in 2008, supplying beef, lamb, pork and chicken products to a broad range of blue-chip customers across the food retailing, food manufacturing and food service sectors.
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